PITSEA’S Josh Da Silva helped Great Britain’s handball team win five of their six matches at an international tournament in Kosovo.

Britain missed out on a quarter-final place at the Emerging Nations Championship only on goal difference but went on to win all three of their placement round games.

Da Silva, who bagged 24 goals for the team, was delighted by the performances.

“It was a great experience as it was my debut with the first team and to win five out of six games was awesome experience,” he said.

“Also getting 24 goals for the team throughout the tournament was a great feeling but it was just a shame we didn't qualify for the top eight.

“We were so unlucky missing out on goal difference like we did but either way it was great to get the five out of six wins because it shows how much potential this team has.

“With no training as a team prior to the championships due to late entry and no funding, it’s a huge positive to think what we could do if we got some backing from anywhere.

“It would enable us to have training camps and training together regularly would help keep the flame alive and hopefully we would be able to compete for European and World Championship qualification.”

Britain won their first game in Kosovo, edging out Estonia 27-26 before losing to Cameron 23-16.

Britain bounced back to beat Albania 67-22 but it was not enough to secure qualification to the quarter finals.

But they beat Armenia 38-20 in their first placement game before beating Australia 32-26 and China 28-22.

Da Silva will now be heading off to Denmark and will be spending a year at the IHÅ Handball Academy in Aarhus.

The youngster will also be lining up for England’s under-19 team in Serbia and Hungary for another international competition in which he is eager to impress.

“It’s a very busy and expensive time for me,” said Da Silva, a former Bromfords School pupil.

“At the end of all of this the dream would be to get a good contract where I can study at university as well.

“But I’m just taking it a step at a time and hope I stay fit and injury free to make the most of an important year of training for me.”